


A Cat Called Nathan

by shadowolfhunter



Series: The Incidents of Eureka [1]
Category: Eureka (TV)
Genre: Angst, Chaos, Fluff, M/M, Mayhem, sometimes Jack is so done with this shit, the usual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-23 13:18:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18550570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowolfhunter/pseuds/shadowolfhunter
Summary: Fargo presses a button....





	1. That Damn Button

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BleedingCoffee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BleedingCoffee/gifts), [Candyoranges](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Candyoranges/gifts).



“Fargo, get out of here.” Jack barked breathlessly as he struggled to hold on to the furious cat in his arms.

“YEOWWWWRRRRRRRRR!” Shrieked the cat, as he flailed madly in Jack’s arms. Fargo squeaked in fright, but slithered past, avoiding Nathan’s lunge and fled out of the door.

The huge tabby cat in Jack’s arms slumped, and Jack staggered from the sudden stillness, slumping into the chair conveniently close by, with Nathan on his lap.

Jack had to admit, Fargo had outdone himself this time. There was a button, Fargo pressed it, and Nathan had lunged forward half a second too late, he had pushed Jack clear, but the wave of sparkly green light had enveloped him, there was a blinding flash and when everyone had reorientated themselves, instead of a six foot four angry scientist in a suit that cost more than Jack’s monthly paycheck, there was a large and angry tabby cat, with a white flash on his chest, and four white paws. A Maine Coon, fully grown (Jack was quite relieved at that), and really, this was Stark, it figured that if he was going to get turned into anything, it would be something huge, and patrician with a lengthy ancestry.

Nathan Stark would never be an ordinary moggy.

Allison’s expression of distaste said it all. “I don’t like cats.” There was something distinctly cat-like about the way she bared her teeth as she skipped past out the door (which Jack forbore to mention in a rare moment of self-preservation), in search of Henry and Taggart to do something about Nathan’s feline state.

Jack sighed. Allison didn’t want him, and Jack had no doubt that Nathan would terrorise Fargo, and Fargo had a dog too.

Carter to the rescue.

_Day 1_

“You will wear the collar.” Jack bent over until he was eye level with Nathan, sitting on the kitchen table.

The green eyes flashed fire, and the thick fluffy tail made it quite clear exactly where Jack could go, and what he could do with the collar when he got there.

Jack was not above emotional bribery. “Please.” he went with the sad eyes, “I don’t want to lose you.”

Nathan made a strange grumbley sound, and eyed him with distaste, but the tail stopped lashing and he submitted to having the collar buckled around his neck. Jack had fastened the tag, and concealed it in his hand, he was winging it here, certain though that Nathan would not be too pleased to be tagged as “Nathan” with Carter, and Jack’s cell number on the reverse, but there was no way Nathan was going to get lost on Jack’s watch.

The battle with the collar now over, Jack was going to be magnanimous about dinner, the skirmish over lunch where Nathan made it extremely clear that he was not dining from a dish on the floor, he was not eating cat food at all, although Jack drew the line at a glass of red. Nathan was on water until he was human again.

_Day 2_

Jack should have known. He really should have.

Nathan had won Zoe over in a heartbeat (“Dad, he’s so fluffy!”) He made a face. He had the feeling that Nathan was going to get away with murder.

Jack spent the day, as he usually did when dealing with Global Dynamics, putting out fires and restraining himself from the comments he wanted to make to Allison about scientists and doing things just because they could without stopping to think whether they should.

Nathan spent the day following Jack about, staring reproachfully at Allison, who was beginning to squirm a little under that sad but aloof gaze, growling at Fargo when he passed by which freaked the scientist entirely, and slapping at the hands of scientists who wanted to touch him with a warning hiss.

Jack arrived home after a long day to find Zoe on the couch with Lucas. Jack sighed. “SARAH beer me, I’m going to get a shower.” He was too tired to argue.

Nathan deposited himself on the couch back next to Zoe and glared at Lucas.

The boy moved closer. Nathan growled. The boy stopped moving and turned back to his textbook.

Jack finished his shower and moved into the kitchen, comfortably dressed in sweat pants and a tee shirt. He could see that Nathan had moved closer to Zoe, and watched out of the corner of his eye as Lucas stealthily tried to slide an arm around Zoe’s shoulders. Nathan hissed and struck. Jack grinned as Zoe’s beau withdrew his hand, shaking it, as Nathan climbed down from his perch and deposited himself on Zoe’s lap.

Like many young women, Zoe was easily diverted by the cute, and Nathan’s lazy affection really should have bothered Jack, but somehow it didn’t. Lucas took himself off soon after.

“Good boy.” Jack raised his beer to Nathan-cat with a nod.

Nathan lay back on the couch and regarded him with half closed eyes…. The tail twitched in response, which Jack took as “you’re welcome”

Jack could get used to this.


	2. Hero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A day in the life of Jack the Sheriff and Nathan the Cat...

_Day 3_

Day three of Jack’s adventures in cat “ownership” dawned with the sound of thundering feet on the stairs.

Jack groaned and sat up, a second later Nathan burst through the bedroom door, took a flying leap onto the bed, and a flying leap off it, he raced around the room three times then shot out the door, Jack listened to the thundering feet on the stairs again, and sighed, looked up at the ceiling.

“SARAH”

“I did advise that black coffee was unsuitable for a cat, Jack.”

Jack shoved the covers aside, and climbed out of bed.

“ZOE!”

He descended the stairs, Nathan-cat was dancing sideways, spinning in circles, and there was this really impressive twisting flip as Nathan jumped in the air for no apparent reason. Jack bent down and scooped up the overly stimulated feline.

Zoe looked torn between amusement and concern as she defended herself, “he wanted coffee Dad.”

Nathan-cat’s pupils were blown, he was panting and his heart was running like a trip hammer. Jack picked up his own coffee and sat down on the couch, Nathan flopped across his lap. “Oh I have no doubt he wanted it,” Jack turned Nathan’s face towards him, “but let’s not try that again, buddy” 

“Yeowrrrr.” The mew was weak, as Jack’s hand stroked through Nathan’s long plush coat, exhausted, Nathan curled up on Jack’s lap, and started to purr as Jack kept up the stroking hoping to calm him down a little.

It had been a bad week so far, Jack swung by Henry’s to discover that his friend was no nearer turning Nathan-cat back into Nathan-scientist than he had been on day one. Nathan-cat flopped onto Henry’s sofa in an attitude of despair, Jack picked him up, “we will get you back,” Jack said softly, “I promise”. Nathan-cat chirped and butted his head against Jack’s hand. Jack rubbed the large triangular ears, which popped back upright with a bounce as he let them go.

Nathan Stark was a gorgeous man, Jack had little difficulty admitting that, and he made a stunning cat. Jack had never considered a pet before, he moved around too much, but there was something comforting about the soft fur, and it had not escaped Jack’s notice that as time went on, Nathan was seeking him out, as though for reassurance.

It had to be frightening. Jack knew that the scientist was in there, but unable to really communicate with anyone. When Nathan climbed into Jack’s lap back at the station, Jack took a moment to cuddle the cat close. “I will look after you, I promise”. He didn’t elaborate, he didn’t need to. Nathan might be a cat, but he knew that there was a chance that he might be stuck like that.

Nathan purred and reached up to lick Jack’s chin, bestowing a little nip to his jawline. Jack tried very hard not to imagine human Nathan doing that, not the purring but the nip, and that was that. He could admit, at least to himself, that he was attracted to the handsome scientist. 

It was a bad day, it was going to get worse.

 

In three hours of the morning, Jack dealt with runaway mini robots (he shot the lead one, the others settled down), a complaint about damage to cars (an experiment gone wrong, Jack rolled his eyes and pulled the plug out of the wall), reports of strange noises out on the forest service road (Taggart), strange flashing lights in Seth’s field (Taggart again, Jack left them arguing) and he hadn’t even had lunch yet.

Throughout his crappy morning, he noticed that Nathan had stuck by his side, even at some personal risk to himself. It was a little weird, but Jack found that kind of endearing. Then realised something, that human Nathan had frequently placed himself at risk to be with Jack during most of their disasters. That was such a revelation that Jack stopped dead for a moment.

“Huh!?”

Jack shook himself and started to cross the street heading to Cafe Diem.

 

Zoe Carter was heading to Cafe Diem, she had her head down, and her headphones in, listening to a speech that her History tutor had set for homework. Until Tesla, Zoe hadn’t cared much for schoolwork, but Tesla was different, everyone wanted to win, and competition was fierce, Zoe figured if she got the history paper out of the way, that would leave her some extra time to work on her AI project for mid term. Perhaps (if they got him back in time) she might even ask Dr Stark for some pointers. Knowing that Callister was a robot, An artificially intelligent being, had piqued Zoe’s interest, she could see herself studying medicine, but Stark’s work on AI inspired her.

Drawing level with the Sheriff’s station movement in her peripheral vision captured her attention, she looked up and saw her Dad about to cross. Zoe waved, and stepped out.

Old Doctor Cole, who surely was too old to be driving a car, was proceeding down the main street. Unwary passersby knew to keep well back when Cole was driving. He had seen a lot of accidents in his rearview mirror.

In that fateful second, time stood still for Jack, he was fast and fit and strong, even though he was no mathematician he knew he would not get there in time, but that didn’t stop him from trying, as a bolt of striped fur shot past him.

Nathan saw Zoe, saw Cole, didn’t hesitate or think, he was a cat, but he was a fairly large and heavy cat, and momentum etc, etc. He hurled himself forward, faster on his four paws than Jack could ever hope to be as a biped, he gathered himself and leapt, hitting Zoe just above the waist, knocking her backwards and out of the path of Cole’s car, a little too late to avoid his hindquarters being clipped by the old man’s vehicle.

He landed on his back in the gutter, a blinding flash enveloping him.

Nathan squeezed his eyes tight shut, god that hurt. Dimly he was aware of people around him, gentle hands touching him, shouting, he cranked one eye open and glared up as Jack’s face came into focus.

“Nathan.” Jack sounded breathless.

“That’s my name.” He suddenly realised that he’d said that, not just thought it. “That really hurt.” He screwed the one eye tight shut again and tried to take a mental inventory of all his appendages, and the general state of his body, it was the wafting of cool air on his skin that led him to a horrific realisation, as the brush of polyester covered his modesty.

The squeeze of a small hand on his forearm, and Zoe’s breathless voice close by made him glance up, “you saved me.” Zoe’s voice was wobbly, her eyes were wide and scared, and worried, and Nathan realised that she was scared for him.

His head and shoulders were very gently lifted, and he was settled back against something firm but yielding, and just like that he was being cared for by Jack Carter. It occurred to Nathan that this was something so foreign, so novel to him personally, that he had to take a moment to process. He shifted a little.

“No scientist, stay down, the ambulance will be here in a moment.” Something else brushed his skin, and Nathan squinted down to see a blanket being placed over him, covering the rest of his body and the shirt which was mostly covering his dignity.

Nathan closed his eyes again, and let himself drift, warm in the care of the Carters, a thing that he was going to have to process sometime, but not right now.  
In his long career, Nathan had ridden out several incidents, though few could count as quite as embarrassing as this.

Stark Naked (he winced at the pun, and the mental image), and flat on his back in the gutter, wearing only a bright red and very shiny cat collar around his neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone wishing to see Nathan's cat dance should check out June The Kitty on Instagram. A truly accomplished little dancer.


End file.
